#AdventUs SEX

SEX

Evolution and sexual selection

Charles Darwin first theorized in On the Origin of Species that the peafowl's plumage had evolved through sexual selection. This idea was expanded upon in his second book,The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex.

The sexual struggle is of two kinds; in the one it is between individuals of the same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their rivals, the females remaining passive; whilst in the other, the struggle is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order to excite or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females, which no longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners.

Sexual selection is the ability of male and female organisms to exert selective forces on each other with regard to mating activity. The strongest driver of sexual selection is gamete size. In general, eggs are bigger than sperm and females produce fewer gametes than males. This leads to eggs being a bigger investment, and therefore to females being choosy about the traits that will be passed on to her offspring by males. The peahen's reproductive success and the likelihood of survival of her chicks is partly dependent on the genotype of the mate.

Females generally have more to lose when mating with an inferior male due to her gametes being more costly than the male's.

From Wikipedia

#AdventUs Survival

Survival

Squirrels are annoying.  They find ways of getting into my bird feeders.  

It wasn’t until after I took this picture that I realized this annoying squirrel was a nursing mama who needed food to feed her family.  I was less annoyed by the squirrels after that.  

They have to eat too, to survive.

Feed squirrels and birds is mostly entertaining for me. Something privileged people can do.  Birds and squirrels can survive just fine without my extra peanuts. 

There are too many in the world who cannot survive without those of us who have enough to feed birds and squirrels being willing to share.  

Those birds and squirrels in my yard are less hungry than too many children in the world.  

May God open our hearts to give of our abundance and privilege that others may not only survive, but thrive.  

On Taming Feral Cats & Grace

So Mama kitty is in the house.  

She let me pet her and rubbed up against me this morning.  Now normally I like to take this more slowly but she is BIG and the weather has been terrible and it could snow any day.  And I need to have access to those kittens to tame them if there's any chance of them finding another home.  I'm not going to stay here and can't be raising dozens of barn cats.  So I picked up by the scruff of the neck and put her in her own room.  She's not happy and there won't be any petting for awhile.

But she will get used to it.  She'll be warm and fed and realize soon just how safe she really is.  I think she will turn out to be a friendly cat.

I've never had any trouble taming feral cats.  But this is the secret.  Patience and letting them be.  I've had cats live in my house for months and even years who never wanted much to do with me.   Eventually, they came around.  I still have one who will run away if I approach her but every time I sit down she jumps up in my lap. 

There's a show on Animal Planet called "My Cat from Hell" where this guy with tattoos and a goatee and a guitar case full of cat toys goes around solving the cat problems of  stupid cat owners who have no business having cats.  

I could do his job but I'm not nearly as interesting looking as he is.  

The most common problem is these idiots chase the cat and pick them up when the cat obviously does not want to be held and then are surprised that the cat has tried to rip their face off. The secret to cats is letting them decide the parameters of the relationship.   

You want to control an animal, get a dog. 

 Most shelters will euthanize feral cats because nobody wants a cat that just lives there and doesn't give you anything back.   But to me, letting a feral cat share your home is a way to express grace.  You take care of the cat, love it, take care of its needs and demand nothing back from it.   When it is ready to reciprocate, you appreciate and accept, however, it does that.  I believe that is what God does with us. 

 I wish we could be free enough to love others this way.

So now Mama Kitty is hiding and fearful and I wish I could make her understand that all I want to do is care for her and she is better off with me.  Is that  not like Adam and Eve hiding from God in fear when all God wants to do is enjoy a cool walk in the garden with them?  I will be patient with her as God is patient with us.  And pray to have the same patience with people.

Vocation, Creation and Yes, a Pregnant Stray Cat IS My Neighbor

 First it was the orange tom cat that showed up stalking my bird feeders.  I had no problem chasing him away.  He never got any birds but he always came back.  He looked skinny but I was strong.  No feeding him.


Then the pretty orange and white showed up.  She was eating the peanuts for the birds.  So I put the peanuts on the roof of the shed and she jumped up on the roof to eat the peanuts.  Well I figured if she was eating the bird seed I was feeding her anyway, so I started feeding her.

  And of course the orange Tom showed up for his share.

At first I thought "She's  not that skinny, she's eating somewhere else"  Then it became clear that she's not that skinny because she is pregnant.  And the orange Tom is no doubt the Baby Daddy. Just what I need.  One of my life's challenges is NOT to become one of those crazy women you see on Animal Hoarders.  This is not helping.

After awhile I decided to just give in to my secret piety which tells me God sends me these creatures to take care of.  Just go with it.  Buy her the special food for kittens and pregnant cats.

So here I am in Dubuque for our Theological Conference and the theme is Vocations.  Stanley Olson from Wartburg Seminary is our presenter.  He starts out asking us who is the neighbor God is calling us to serve.  Everyone shouts out - the sick, the lonely, the outcast, the immigrant,  you know the drill.  When it was my turn I answered "A pregnant stray cat"  Everyone laughed but I was not joking.  Is not creation our neighbor?  St. Francis, whose day was not so long ago, would certainly agree.  Is it not just a holy a calling to care for animals, plants and even the earth as it is to care for people?

"God is milking the cows through the vocation of the milkmaid", Luther said.  God is taking care of this pregnant queen through me.  

Friday Five - More Randomness

 

So the RevGalBlogPals are into Spontaneous Thinking today...  In honer of that I offer a randam picture of a Goldfinch in a tree right outside my window.  I took it with a new camera I bought for myself because I was not happy with the zoom on my other cheaper one.  I keep an envelope stuffed with cash that people give me for gifts and save up until I want something for myself.  I thought this was a good use of that cash.  How is that for a random thought?
So...
1.  What religion/faith besides yours captures your curiosity and why?  Both Quakers and Roman Catholicism.  I know, they are totally opposite right?  That's probably why. I like Roman Catholic stuff in worship way too much to ever be a Quaker but I am appreciate their simplicity idea of just shutting up until the Spirit speaks and listening to other people speak.  I don't think I could ever do that which is why I think it's important. 
And sometimes I think the Roman Catholic church is really the one true church.  Just really screwed up. 

2.  What is the first or most memorable pop song you ever learned as a kid?

I remember watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show the first time.  And we all went to school the next day singing "She loves you YEA YEA YEA"

3.  If God were a color.....(finish this sentence creatively) Not a color - the RAINBOW.  Of course.

4.  If you were going to make a sandwich right now for lunch, and you magically had all the items you need for it, what would that sandwich be?

 Grilled fresh Sourdough bread from San Francisco,  smoked extra sharp ceddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon and thinly sliced honey crisp apple.

5.  How are you doing?  Really, how are you? Really?  Well I had a rough night last night as I suffer from acid reflex and I seemed to suffer all the ways you can from it last night.  Not just heartburn but nausea , coughing, burning throat.  Okay, well you DID ask! (And don't bother commenting all the things in my diet I need to give up--I won't do I tell you!)

But the good thing was as I was walking around (lying down makes it worse) I looked out my window where their is a light and saw my woodchuck wandering around looking for trouble.  He didn't seem to find any as my flowers were all intact this morning.

Bonus:  What are you enjoying/loving right now? 

Having always had a lot of cats and letting them roam pretty free (no comments about THAT either) I never felt like I should have a bird feeder.  My cats are all elderly and we live in open country now so they only go out with supervision now so I put out a finch feeder with thistle right out side my window.  It did not take long before I had goldfinches and house finches.  In an attempt to attract different birds I've put out sunflower seeds and grape jelly on my picnic table.  All that attracted was more finches but they are delightful to watch.  They are very busy.  I know there are blue jays and cardinals I see once in a while but they don't care to come.  But I'm happy with the finches.

  

And I'm taking off for the Synod Assembly and am expecting it to actually be an enjoyable experience.  And I'm convening the hearings for the Social Statement on Criminal Justice   It's been very stressful trying to decide what to wear.

More Wild Life in My Back yard

Looked out my window today and saw this:

Then I realized there were two of them

 I love my zoom

Then I went outside and got closer.  

A little too close.  She flew off

My Neighbors

Even though I have to drive an hour an a half just to shop at Target, I have some great neighbors:

 

There's the deer that come and hang out around dusk.  Five or six of them at a time, they make themselves right at home in my back yard. 

I first found this guy in my trash can.













 




And there was the Red Tailed Hawk fledgling that popped in one morning.

He was very loud and he pooped all over my front porch.

And in the pasture behind the barn - Black Angus cattle and their young uns

I guess you can go to Target anywhere, but neighbors like these are hard to come by.